Urine shield

ABSTRACT

The urine shield is a shell defining an arch-shaped opening. A plurality of attachment members extend from the base of the shell. The attachment members attach to the rim of the toilet bowl to support the shield in an upright position. The shell has an arcuate roof and a generally arcuate wall which extends laterally and rearwardly from the roof. In order to facilitate insertion and removal on a toilet, a handle may be provided at the roof of the shell. The urine shield may be affixed to the toilet bowl to prevent urine from spraying on the toilet seat and cover, the associated hinges attached to the toilet seat and cover, and on the walls and floors adjacent the toilet.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a shield to prevent urine from sprayingoutside the toilet bowl, and more particularly, to a urine shield whichcan be removably attached to the rim of a toilet bowl to direct theurine stream of a male user into the toilet bowl.

2. Description of the Related Art

Maintaining the hygienic condition of conventional toilets having atoilet bowl, seat, and cover can be difficult. When a male uses aconventional toilet to urinate, the seat and cover are typically raisedto provide direct access to the toilet bowl. Unfortunately, in manyinstances such use can lead to soiling of the toilet bowl rim andperhaps the areas adjacent the toilet. Male children, for example, oftenhave difficulty in properly using conventional toilets as urinals. Thus,the conventional toilets in most homes are subject to non-hygienic andunpleasant conditions.

Several toilet bowl splash guards have been proposed to address thesoiling problem which can occur when a conventional toilet is used as aurinal. However, none have the various features of the presentinvention.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,357,055, issued Mar. 19, 2002 to Gambla et al.,discloses a toilet overspray shield for males having upstanding wallsthat are semi-elliptical in horizontal section and extend upwardlinearly about the circumference of the ellipse and which removablyengage with the lower portion of the inner rim of a toilet bowl when thetoilet seat is raised. The rear of the shield is provided with fastenerto attach the shield to a raised toilet seat.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,385,785, issued May 14, 2002 to C. S. Linden, disclosesa urine shield which can be placed into the toilet bowl to shield theback and sides of the bowl from urine. The urine shield includes aU-shaped hook which attaches to the raised toilet seat.

Other splash guards are described or shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,564,135,issued Oct. 15, 1996 to Jones et al. (collapsible toilet bowl splashguard for permanent attachment to the lower surface of a toilet seat) ;U.S. Des. Pat. No. 369,856, issued May 14, 1996 to Lucido et al.(combined urine guard and toilet trainer with target); and U.S. Des.Pat. No. 394,497, issued May 19, 1998 to E. L. Johnson (toilet lidsplash guard).

None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or incombination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed. Thus,a urine shield solving the aforementioned problems is desired.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The urine shield includes a shell defining an arch-shaped opening. Aplurality of attachment members extend from the base of the shell. Theattachment members attach to the rim of the toilet bowl to support theshield in an upright position. The shell includes an arcuate roof and agenerally arcuate wall which extends laterally and rearwardly from theroof. To facilitate insertion and removal on a toilet, a handle may beprovided at the roof of the shell. The urine shield may be affixed tothe toilet bowl to prevent urine from spraying on the toilet seat andcover, the associated hinges attached to the toilet seat and cover, andon the walls and floors adjacent the toilet.

These and other features of the present invention will become readilyapparent upon further review of the following specification anddrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an environmental, perspective view of a urine shield accordingto the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of a urine shield according to the presentinvention.

FIG. 3 is a side view of a urine shield according to the presentinvention.

FIG. 4 is a rear view of a urine shield according to the presentinvention.

Similar reference characters denote corresponding features consistentlythroughout the attached drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention relates to a urine shield, generally designated as10 in the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, the urine shield 10 may beaffixed to the rim of the bowl when the toilet seat is raised. Theshield 10 prevents urine from splashing outside the toilet bowl.

The urine shield 10 is a shell 12 defining an arch-shaped opening 15.The shell 12 includes an arcuate roof 14 and a generally arcuate wall 16which extends laterally and rearwardly from the roof. The shape of theshell 12 may be described as substantially semi-paraboloid or may beviewed as having the shape of one quarter of an egg shell.

As can be seen more clearly in FIG. 2, the shield 10 further includesattachment members 18 which can snap on to the rim of the toilet bowl tosupport the shield 10 in an upright position. Preferably, the shieldincludes an inverted U-shaped clip 20 extending laterally adjacent thebase of each side of the arch-shaped opening 15. An inverted L-shapedbracket 22 has a flange that extends rearward from the bottom rear ofthe shell 12 for resting upon the rear rim of the toilet bowl. As can beseen, when the shield 10 is affixed to the toilet bowl, a lower edge ofthe shield 10 extends into the toilet bowl.

In order to facilitate attachment to and removal from a toilet, a handle24 may be provided at the roof 14 of the shell 12. The handle 24 caneither be a handle hole defined in the roof 14 of the shell 12, as isshown, or a handle bar (not shown) which extends from the roof 14.

The urine shield may be made from any suitable flexible material and canbe of unitary construction or made from separate pieces. Preferably,however, the urine shield 10 is made from a single piece of moldedplastic.

It is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to theembodiments described above, but encompasses any and all embodimentswithin the scope of the following claims.

1-3. (canceled)
 4. The urine shield according to claim 5, wherein saidurine shield is made from plastic.
 5. A urine shield comprising: a shellhaving an arcuate roof and a generally arcuate wall extending laterallyand rearwardly from said arcuate roof, said arcuate roof and saidarcuate wall defining an arch-shaped opening, said arcuate wall andarch-shaped opening arching downwardly from said arcuate roof to a baseof said arcuate wall; a handle to facilitate grasping the shield, saidhandle formed by an aperture located in the center of said arcuate roofand adjacent to said arch-shaped opening; a plurality of attachmentmembers disposed adjacent to said base of said arcuate wall forattaching said urine shield onto a rim of a toilet bowl, said attachmentmembers comprising; (a) a pair of inverted U-shaped clips for snappingonto the rim of the toilet bowl, said clips extending outwardly anddownwardly from said arcuate wall on opposite sides of said arch-shapedopening, said inverted U-shaped clips located adjacent to said base andadjacent to said arch-shaped opening, and (b) a single, flathorizontally extending flange for resting on the rim of the toilet bowl,said flange extending outwardly from said arcuate wall and locatedadjacent to said base at the center of said arcuate wall.